ShondaLand -
"It’s where all the badasses live. The ones who stand up for themselves. The ones who do what they want and say what they want and dance how they want and wear what they want. And you don’t give a crap what anyone else has to say about it. Shondaland is for the warrior in all of us. Shondaland is for the mighty, the competitive, the smart, the daring, and the bold. Add your voice. Join the tribe."
After researching Shonda Rhimes and her show Grey's Anatomy, I've come to realize a whole other world outside of just the shows Rhimes writes and produces. She's an empowering ball of energy who is a huge advocate for equal rights from race to gender and beyond. This reflects directly in her shows.
While the main point of my final feature is to discuss her display of feminism in Grey's Anatomy and the concept of enlightened sexism, I learned a few other key elements to her leadership technique/style.
It's called "colorblind."
In an article published by The New York Times in 2005, Rhimes says, "I'm in my early 30's, and my friends and I don't sit around and discuss race ... We're post-civil rights, post-feminist babies, and we take it for granted we live in a diverse world."
Her approach to casting is to simply not define her characters based on race. She leaves out that descriptor in her scripts and goes through the casting process based on talent and who fits the feel of the character. It's a unique approach and one people weren't/aren't accustomed to.
By doing this, she ended up with a culturally diverse cast of men and women.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched Grey's Anatomy, but after reading some of your thoughts on the show I am very interested in starting. I consider myself to be a bit of a feminist, and I would love to watch a show that gets that sort of stuff right. I really like how she does her casting. It's great that she's choosing whoever best fits the role and not caring about their looks.